A Tiger's Tale
by melinda08
Summary: Calvin's 16, and when his world is turned upside down, isn't a visit from a long lost friend exactly what the doctor ordered? That's what his mom thought. Just how much that stuffed tiger had meant to her son, his mom would never know- until now. Late birthday present for crazysockmonkeys. some drama, some hurt, some humor...and a whole lot of friendship.
1. Chapter 1

A Tiger's Tale

by Melinda

for Aria (crazysockmonkeys)

ch. 1

Lois Miller was your typical, everyday housewife. Everything about her life screamed ordinary (i.e. boring)..she met her future husband, Bill, as they were both freshmen in college. She worked two or three jobs after she graduated, none in her chosen profession, to support Bill throughout his law school days. She was married at 25, had her only child, Calvin, at 30, and had decided to stay home to raise her boy. What a prolific decision that would turn out to be.

Yes, Lois very much lived the American dream. Bill had done very well at his profession. Once Calvin turned 16, Bill had decided to run for judge. Everything looked perfect for their little future, for their little family.

That was until the day Bill went in for his yearly physical.

A bicycle enthusiast, a health-nut, even running ten miles daily in the coldest days of winter, Bill was fully prepared for his usual clean bill of health. When the doctor ordered x-rays, that should have sent alarms to Bill's mind, but it hadn't.

Cancer, they'd told him. Third stage lung cancer. And Bill had never smoked a day in his life, save for the occasional joint in college during his frat boy days. But those days had been far and few between, and a very, very long time ago.

This diagnosis would challenge the family as it had never been challenged before. And to anyone who'd ever knew, taught, raised, babysat or been a childhood playmate of Calvin Miller, they knew that would be saying quite a bit.

0000

Calvin never had been a typical child. His only friend for the first eight years of his life had been Hobbes, his stuffed tiger. Everywhere Calvin went, Hobbes was surely in tow. Lois hadn't thought much of it, only that Calvin had inheritied his father's wild imagination. (The wild stories Bill told Calvin, from how light bulbs operated on magic to some outlandish theory of how the sun only sat for the evening in Flagstaff, Arizona should have given Lois some clue as to how Calvin would come to have such a flare for the dramatic!)

Calvin was intelligent, intelligent enough to try every scheme imaginable to try to get out of going to school, getting out of chores, and to avoid Rosalyn, his babysitter. School never was his thing. The best he'd ever done was become a D student. He resisted authority, challenged what was taught him (except for what his dad would try to "teach" him), didn't fit in well with other students. So it was understandable that Lois should cut Calvin a bit of slack, though he would try her last nerve in the process.

So he had a stuffed tiger for a friend? What harm could that do? He'd outgrow it, the doctors would say, and for years it seemed as if he had.

So what in the world was Lois doing, dragging out Hobbes and preparing him for a trip to the hospital? Yes, Bill was in the hospital, but tonight, it wouldn't be her husband she would be visiting there.

She'd be visiting her only son, who'd been admitted to the adolescent impatient mental health ward.

Lois looked at Hobbes, touched the soft, worn out fur of the face, then finished packing Calvin's bags, and slowly and with much dread, she started out to the hospital, a place she was growing to detest by the day.

tbc


	2. Chapter 2

As Lois entered her son's room, it took all of her strength to keep from breaking down at the sight of her only child. Calvin was staring out the window with his arms wrapped himself and silently rocking back and forth.

"Calvin..." she cleared her throat, trying to be brave. "Calvin...I'm here. Are you...are you okay?"

He didn't even turn to face her. He kept on rocking, not even acknowledging her presence.

She looked at the worn out old stuffed tiger, then coughed quietly. "Calvin...I brought you a present. Someone here wants to see you. Someone's missed you an awful lot."

Slowly, Calvin started to turn around. At the sight of Hobbes, his beloved imaginary friend who'd provided him with much of his only childhood idea of friendship, laughter, tears, and plenty of hugs, Calvin's face actually lit up. But only for a second.

"Hobbes?" his voice creaked with emotion. "I thought...you and the doctors...you guys said he wasn't real. You said he had to go away."

Lois handed Calvin Hobbes, and watched as her son eagerly and tearfully embraced his friend. "That was wrong of us, Calvin. I know how much you love Hobbes. He's here now. No one's ever going to take him away from you again."

Calvin started sobbing as he held on as tightly to Hobbes as he could.

"Do you want me to get you anything? Some ice cream? French fries?" Lois asked, feeling quite overwhelmed herself.

"No, Mom. I just...I just want to be alone with Hobbes."

She started to protest, but then nodded, kissed Calvin on the top of his head, then left the two long lost friends alone to get reacquainted.

0000

Suddenly the stuffed toy whom to the rest of the world, well, was nothing more than just a toy, came to life. He started bouncing around, running around the room, and Calvin couldn't help but smile.

"Calm down, silly. You won't give my eyes a chance to dry," Calvin laughed.

"Oh, boy...ice cream? Do you think your mom will bring me some too? Go get her!" Hobbes asked gleefully.

"Tigers don't eat ice cream," Calvin pouted, annoyed that his best friend was more worried about a treat than about seeing Calvin again.

"What..you'd rather serve me up a treat of those dreadful chocolate bomb cereals you used to force me to eat?" Hobbes grinned.

"Yeah, I forced you to eat them, all right. Just like I forced you to watch cartoons, to steal my covers and to kick me out of my own bed all the time. Not to mention how many times you stole my comic books," Calvin griped.

"Your fault. First, you had cold feet. Secondly, did it ever occur to you to brush your teeth before you went to bed? You slept by the window and boy, did that smell of your breath linger in my direction. Uggh. And comic books...well, you shouldn't have left them alone!"

"I was at school, dummy!"

Calvin and Hobbes stared at each other, then pretty soon they broke into grins, tearful laughs, and they embraced each other for the first time in five years. Neither wanted to let go of the other.

A nurse walked in. "Calvin? Goodness, what's going on in here?"

"Nothing. It's all Hobbes's fault. He probably got my mom to get him some soda on the way here. He's pretty tricky that way, you know."Calvin pointed at Hobbes, who was now propped up against the pillows on Calvin's hospital bed.

"All right," the nurse sighed. "Just keep it down. Is there anything I can get you before I leave for the night?"

Calvin grinned. "I'll have a lemonade, not too strong, not too sweet, plenty of ice (but not so much it's watered down)...and my friend here will have a tuna sandwich."

The nurse couldn't help but smile. "A lemonade for you, and a tuna for the tiger. Got it."

"Be quick about it too! Tigers are ferocious and if they don't get their tuna, I can't be held liable for the damages Hobbes might cause around here!" Calvin shouted as the nurse shook her head and left the room.

"Tuna? For me? Why, Calvin...you remembered!" Hobbes exclaimed gleefully.

"How could I forget? Every time I opened a can, it didn't matter what it was...you tore into me expecting your stupid tuna every time. You and your tuna," Calvin grumbled.

"There's nothing better than a tuna fish sandwich," Hobbes smiled. "Except for eating a tuna fish sandwich with your bestest friend in the whole wide world."

Once again, Calvin got a little teary eyed. "Don't ever leave me again, Hobbes. No one understands me. You're the only one..."

Hobbes patted Calvin's back as the boy embraced the "tiger". "Don't worry, Calvin. I never could forget you. You feed me tuna!"

They both laughed, and Calvin just held on tightly while they awaited their evening snacks.

Tbc

**A/N: I apologize for the delay. I'm in my third trimester of a difficult pregnancy..morning sickness has kept me from writing very often. But I want to keep going with this story...thanks for your patience.**


End file.
